Aedra, Daedra and the Dwemer (child of the 'What house did you buy' thread)

December 10th, 2011, 19:26

Originally Posted by fatBastard()
No no, you can buy a house in all the major cities (Whiterun, Markarth, Riften, Solitude and Windhelm)

Oh thanks for the clarification. The way some of the posts were worded I got the impression it was a one or the other type of system.

That said with all the feedback here and Skyrim wikis seems the best all around house is the one in the old dwarf city Markarth.

Also I have not played any TES series games in depth until this one could someone lore wise clarify some things for me please?

1. Does any one know what happened to the dwarfs? From the bits NPCs have said I get the impression they woke up one day and they all were gone.

2. The deadric (sp?) princes and the like, who most are seen as 'evil' are they like TES version of demi-gods? I am a little confused of the relation of the 'full' gods like those that have a temple and these deadric peeps. Any clarification appreciated thanks!

The dissaperance of the dwarfs was something of a subplot in morrowind.
Short verson: A dwarf named kagrenac attempted to attatch the entire dwarven race to lorkans heart (the heart of a god) beliving it would turn them into gods.
For whatever reason the ritual failed and they all vanished leaving only a single survivor.

As for daedric princes they are something akin to divine beings who inhabit and usually rules their own sub plane in oblivion.
While immortal and immensly powerful they are not truly gods because they cannot create only alter what allready exists also they are not empowered by faith only souls.

disappeared during a war they participated in. Kagrenac played a great role as he had designs for his people to leave the Mortal Plane. It is not sure, however, if their disappearance was an accident due to his experimenting with means to reach his goal or if their sudden disappearance was what was supposed to happen … and there are more theories around. But yes, they all -minus one - disappeared at the same time. The one Dwemer who was left behind had been on another plane when the rest left. If the instruments Kagrenac crafted had something to do with the whole affair is still disputed

.

My personal theory still is that they fell through the holes in the floor of Daggerfall and didn't know about Alt+F11.

As for Daedra, they are a) of another plane of existence while the Aedra -'gods' - were partially responsible in the creation of Nirn, the ES planet. Daedra are immortal, Aedra eren't. Both are revered and/or feared by the inhabitants of Nirn, and while the Daedra often fill the 'demon' role, they are not always and not exclusively evil.

You might want to read the articles about Daedra over at UESP or the ES wiki if you need more details .

I think there's a book in game called Aedra and Daedra, which goes into the differences in the god gods (Akatosh, Mara, etc.) and the daedric gods. Essentially, the Aedra (the former) are more traditional fantasy gods, while the Daedra are the super-powerful, slightly alien sort of "god" that are closer to demons in a lot of mythology. Aedra are safe to worship, but Daedra can lead you into all sorts of trouble. Not necessarily through evil, but just because it's fun to them.

Aedra are also considered the ancestors of all mortal races. Daedra are considered "not ancestors", as they broke off from the Aedra and formed their own world to live in. Read "The Monomyth", "Aedra and Daedra" and "Types of Daedra" for more.

Originally Posted by Fluent
Aedra are also considered the ancestors of all mortal races. Daedra are considered "not ancestors", as they broke off from the Aedra and formed their own world to live in. Read "The Monomyth", "Aedra and Daedra" and "Types of Daedra" for more.

I hadn't really been aware of the difference so this is an interesting topic, buried in the real estate ads :-) I tended to see the Daedra as more demonic although I knew they were not all evil. More like amoral or just wild.

EDIT: And after doing some deeper reading, the lore really explains why the Thalamor really dislike the idea of Talos and why this is such a an issue. My character has developed an almost pathologicla hatred of the Thalamor and hunts them down wherever he finds them.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
I hadn't really been aware of the difference so this is an interesting topic, buried in the real estate ads :-) I tended to see the Daedra as more demonic although I knew they were not all evil. More like amoral or just wild.

It really is a very deep world, as it should be after so many games. Since it started as one of the developer's D&D game worlds, you have to wonder how much of this goes back even further than the games themselves.

It's quite fun to look at all of the history of the various races and religions, and it can add a whole new dimension to playing (at least, it can if you're the kind of person who can role-play without the computer popping up every so often to tell you what a good job you're doing). It can be hard to read through everything you find while you're playing, especially if you find a book while in the middle of a dungeon raid, but sites like that one make it easy to catch up on everything.

Most people believe the Daedra are inherently evil. It even says so in the game tips during loading screens. Azura is obviously the exception to the rule. The Daedra are "wild" because they love to interfere and meddle with the mortal races. They enjoy the fact of "luring" humans to the dark side, and taking them further away from the Aedra. They do it partly just to spite the Aedra for creating mortal races in the first place.

The Daedra overall are very fascinating.

It's interesting too learning about how the various races view their mortality. For example, the Mer races (Dunmer, Altmer, Bosmer), view mortality as shameful, a bad thing, because they believe they once were immortal and Gods themselves, and thus being mortal they have been separated from Godhood. The human and beast races look upon mortality as a blessing from the Gods, and they're very thankful for it. So you can see why a human God, Talos, is viewed with disgust from the Aldmeri Dominion of high elves. Because a lot of high elves view humans and beast races as just that, beasts, not worthy of anything.

I agree though, the world is very deep, and if you take the time to read the books, it's very rich and rewarding.

Regarding Dwemer, there´s a book in Skyrim which addresses their disappearance quite sufficiently - Battle of Red Mountain, though not entirely in straight fashion (one of great aspects of Elder Scrolls lore - a lot of it is up to interpretation).

Morrowind´s quest which touches upon this subject (Mystery of the Dwarves) was great. Player was given it as a pretty much impossible task which at first seemed as it´s supposed to rest unfinished in the journal forever, but it was actually possible to finish it via doing quite a few other quests throughout the game.

Regarding Daedra, besides the in-game(s) books, there´s also a superb mod for Oblivion which goes in great depth on this, Integration - The Stranded Light. Really good quest design, lots of lore delving and about 100 hours of content which is vastly superior to anything vanilla Oblivion offers quest-wise.

Originally Posted by DeepO
Regarding Dwemer, there´s a book in Skyrim which addresses their disappearance quite sufficiently - Battle of Red Mountain, though not entirely in straight fashion (one of great aspects of Elder Scrolls lore - a lot of it is up to interpretation).

That's one of the best things about TES games. They don't feel the need to have everything explained. There are ideas about things presented in-game by NPCs and books, but just like in real life, those are just theories and may be wrong. What did happen to the Dwemer. Do they still exist anywhere? Who, or what, is Sithis? What exactly is up with Sheogorath? Were the events in Shivering Isles real, or just some twisted game? The latter fits better with his character, and Skyrim doesn't make it clear.

On another note, I really hope they add in some more lesser daedra in a DLC or expansion. Dremora and atronachs just aren't enough!

Originally Posted by Harlequin
Wondering if they are planning on having the dwarfs return at some point in a future TES game?

You mad? The worst opponent I've stumbled upon in my game was dwarven centurion master, seriously, you want to fight against a few of those accompanied with a bunch of dwarves in the same room?
No, please… Let them stay wherever they are.

Unless… Unless you'll be in control. As a dwarf who returned from whatever "exile" or blacksmith who can create those centurions. Dragons would stand no chance!

The Dwemer would make quick work of the dragons. Have you seen those massive ballista in some of their ruins? I imagine it would take a Centurion to fire one, but it'd rip a hole in a dragon real fast.

No … at least I can't remember if Dwemer were mentioned in Arena and Daggerfall. Or Battlespire, for that matter.* Dwemer ruins first appeared in Redguard IIRC.

* That's probably because I was too busy with fleeing from liches in Arena, too busy with fighting guards in Daggerfall and too busy with gawking at Daedra in Battlespire to notice. On the other hand, the guards kept me on my toes in Redguard as well after I had done some premature, uh, quest-finishing, so being busy might not have been the reason after all.

My biggest gripe with Redguard was the heavy penalty for straying from The Way of The Lord, i.e. doing quests out of order. I don't remember if it was difficult to start . My biggest gripe with Battlespire was that it took so much reloading due to the frequent vanishing of glyphs … but getting insight in Mehrunes Dagon's home affairs was well worth it. I was rather disappointed when his Grand Vizier didn't make an appearance in the Oblivion game, but seeing what he did in Battlespire might have gotten him cashiered after all.